Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Got up and got showered because we had to leave for the airport to catch a 6:30 AM flight. No flights from Karup at a decent price which meant we had to go to Billund, about an hour away.

We arrived at Billund with no problems and got checked in for our flight. We stopped at the duty free shop to buy gifts for Ruth and Mark, our hosts for the weekend. Nike wanted to get Mark a bottle of Danish Bitters.. but alas, it's not permitted because it's a bottle of liquid.. grrr.

We boarded our flight from Billund to Amsterdam - crappy seats near the back of the plane. It was a small plane so our carry-on bags were gate checked to be picked up at Amsterdam.

They closed the doors of the plane and welcomed us aboard and then about 5 minutes later...

"If there is a doctor or nurse onboard please ring your call button"

Uh oh - sick passenger? Nooooo... sick pilot! Next thing we know our pilot/captain is removed via ambulance and we are sent back into the airport. Carry-on bags nowhere to be found at the moment and no one who works for the airport or KLM airlines seems to know anything about what they're going to do with all these people who have to get to Amsterdam for connecting flights. There isn't another Captain anywhere except IN Amsterdam so there's no one to fly the plane.

After an hour or so of confusion and a very expensive breakfast, we finally had our carry on bags returned to us and then they started to rebook everyone for new flights. The information desk has no line - it's all about how big you are and how well you can manage to push your way to the front of the mass of people. Now they announce that they're going to give all the passengers a free breakfast... no refund of the $20 breakfast we just ate!

We finally got rebooked for a flight - this one to Frankfurt Germany and then connecting to Newark on Lufthansa. All is good.

Oops.. now the flight to Frankfurt is delayed due to fog in Frankfurt. With the current plan we have about 30 minutes to make our connection in Frankfurt - an airport the size of a small city. With the delay, there's no way that flight will be made so back to the information desk we go.

With the first set of changes, they threw away all the original boarding passes. They now must dig through the garbage cans to find them as they need those if they are to change the itinerary again! Now they decide that they'll leave us on the first flight in case it too is delayed and also book us for a later flight to Newark.

We finally get to Frankfurt, just in time to see the first Newark flight pull away from it's gate... so now we have to go see the Lufthansa people about getting boarding passes for the later flight. In the process of getting those boarding passes and getting to the scheduled gate, we somehow manage to pass through passport inspection in 3 separate places! Did I say small city? I meant HUGE city.

At this point, we were originally supposed to have landed in Newark at 11:30 AM EST, we're now looking at a 7:30 pm EST arrival. It's 8 hours after the original arrival time, but we're going to get there and all will be well.

So to the gate we go.. and as we're talking to the gate agents, we notice that the flight number on the board over our heads is not our flight, but some other flight to New York. I pointed this out and the German guy beyond the counter says, with full fledged finger wag, "no, no, no, no, no!". To which I simply replied, "yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!".

Mass confusion ensues... two sets of gate agents, two planes, all assigned to one gate. Phone calls are being made and no one seems to know the answer. The Newark flight has only 57 passengers scheduled on it... the JFK flight has only about 150 scheduled.

After about 15 minutes of confusion, we are then informed that "Due to a technical problem, the Newark flight has been cancelled and passengers will be rebooked on the flight to JFK airport in New York." The "technical problem"? They're going to lose money if they fly that plane to Newark with only 57 passengers.

We have a car reserved at Newark, so I call National and ask for the reservation to be changed to JFK. Oops.. JFK has no cars - sold out, it is Thanksgiving after all! So now we have to get from JFK to Newark upon landing or we don't have a rental car.

We finally board the flight to JFK and arrive at 8pm Eastern time (it's now 2 AM Danish time). We immediately clear customs and get put on a shuttle bus that will take us to Newark... and we sit. One full hour after getting on that bus we finally get out of JFK airport and over to Newark and we finally pick up our rental car at about 10:30 pm Eastern time.

After a rather uneventful drive north, we arrive in Schenectady at 2:00 AM Eastern time - 28 hours after leaving our home in Denmark.